McCormick vs AMR/AMR vs McCormick

Jim37F said:
According to my friends/former coworkers there who got to talk with management, they (AMR) are supposedly gonna treat it like Doctors, Gold Coast, Medic West....i.e. McCormick is going to stay McCormick as a more or less independent operation. No AMR logos or patches on the rigs or uniforms, current AMR employees wanting to work for McCormick would still have to apply, test, interview, get hired, go to orientation and FTO field training to work for McCormick (and vice versa). They're supposedly not going to come in and make major operational changes (McCormick is keeping the same amount of 24 hour shifts and the same stations) and no one at the EMT and Paramedic level is going to lose their job, the new red rigs are staying etc etc. Apparently according to some AMR guy that came down the biggest operational change they are planning on is changing the ePCR to AMRs system, and hinted at payroll changed (while joking about how a lot of people probably got raises when the minimum wage increases, which is def true as McCormick's starting wage is minimum wage currently, with a 3% yearly raise ($0.33, I went from $10.50 to $10.83 with the yearly raise).

Apparently AMR is interested in having McCormick help staff their special event standbys though.

But otherwise per what the higher ups are saying, field crews shouldn't notice any drastic changes....of course there's the worry that in 6-12 months some AMR big wig won't show up and change half the policies and plenty of people are expressing concern about what happened with Doctors (and even AMR itself in Irwindale) losing their contract after being bought out (which management answered basically by saying not nice things about Care's bidding practices)
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Interesting. I guess time will tell whether this holds up or not. Thanks for the info.
 
Jim37F said:
According to my friends/former coworkers there who got to talk with management, they (AMR) are supposedly gonna treat it like Doctors, Gold Coast, Medic West....i.e. McCormick is going to stay McCormick as a more or less independent operation. No AMR logos or patches on the rigs or uniforms, current AMR employees wanting to work for McCormick would still have to apply, test, interview, get hired, go to orientation and FTO field training to work for McCormick (and vice versa). They're supposedly not going to come in and make major operational changes (McCormick is keeping the same amount of 24 hour shifts and the same stations) and no one at the EMT and Paramedic level is going to lose their job, the new red rigs are staying etc etc. Apparently according to some AMR guy that came down the biggest operational change they are planning on is changing the ePCR to AMRs system, and hinted at payroll changed (while joking about how a lot of people probably got raises when the minimum wage increases, which is def true as McCormick's starting wage is minimum wage currently, with a 3% yearly raise ($0.33, I went from $10.50 to $10.83 with the yearly raise).

Apparently AMR is interested in having McCormick help staff their special event standbys though.

But otherwise per what the higher ups are saying, field crews shouldn't notice any drastic changes....of course there's the worry that in 6-12 months some AMR big wig won't show up and change half the policies and plenty of people are expressing concern about what happened with Doctors (and even AMR itself in Irwindale) losing their contract after being bought out (which management answered basically by saying not nice things about Care's bidding practices)
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They said the same at Bowers. LOL 6 months later it turned into AMR.

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Here's my prediction of what will go down. Probably in this order:

1) everyone will do the AMR compliance training

2) the McCormick HR department will be all laid off on a Friday... say four to six months from now.

3) billing department goes next...

4) upper management is fired and replaced by AMR people from other operations.

5) no more nomex uniforms. They are replaced with Horace-Small brand uniforms. They suck.

6) you will switch to the MEDS e-pcr system.

7) Ford Transit Van ambulances show up in your color scheme to start doing IFTs. Oh, and you start doing IFTs.

8) when all of your Leader type 3 trucks start to get higher milage, they will be replaced with the standard issue AMR AEV type 3 (without a power load).

9) then you come to work to see a memo that "the McCormick brand" is being "absorbed" into AMR and you will get new patches and the name will be scraped off the side and replaced with an AMR logo.

The only reason they didn't rebrand Medic West and Gold Coast was to limit outsiders from coming into their respective counties. Obviously not a problem in LA where there are more companies than you can shake a stick at.
 
Just repeating what management (both AMR and McCormick) have said on these points specifically:
aquabear said:
6) you will switch to the MEDS e-pcr system.
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This is already confirmed and will be happening sometime in the near future switching from McCormicks current ePCR to AMRs ePCR

aquabear said:
7) Ford Transit Van ambulances show up in your color scheme to start doing IFTs. Oh, and you start doing IFTs.

8) when all of your Leader type 3 trucks start to get higher milage, they will be replaced with the standard issue AMR AEV type 3 (without a power load).
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Apparently the LA County Fire contract (that is a 10 year contract just renewed last year) straight up requires Type 3s for LA Co FD responses. The Torrance Fire contract already has had this requirement, so the new boxes cannot, legally speaking, go away.

Management has said they would like to see more IFTs (most actual crew members came to McCormick to avoid them) but the goal os still 100%compliance with) LA Co, Torrance, Redondo, and Compton Fire contract response times, so short of a large increase in the number of available units, they cannot take on a large number of additional IFTs without sacrificing the preexisting 911 contracts. Now, word is that AMR is comfortable with the minimum required 92% compliance rate whereas McCormick managemt shoots for 100% (may just be company koolaid lol), so until the McCormick managemt is changed I don't foresee a huge increase in IFTs...even maintaining a 92% 911 compliance rate, there's so many, ots a busy enough area, I highly doubt guys would see more IFTs vs 911. As it is you could double the amount of IFTs currently run and most units would still 1 a shift or less (I spent a yr and a half there, I can count the number of BLS IFTs on one hand I got...)
 
Why are IFT's beneath LA County EMT's at these wannabe FD places still? Lol, what a joke.

I have to say our EMT's run their butts off between IFT's and pretty much sole-provider 911 calls those in LA think are "awesome fire calls", and you know what? They hardly bat an eye.

@Jim37F I promise you this sounds just like the AMR I walked into in the early 2000's--snake oil, my friend. I think @aquabear hit the nail on the head with what will, overall, go down.

The fact that AMR is ok meeting the minimum most likely means that they already have their IFT wheels turning. Ha, try having to meet that contract plus an entire, yep entire county-wide, Kaiser contract. That was the AMR of old, which is the AMR of new. Don't think they aren't going after deep hospital pockets already.

Heck, my spin would add that the reasons they wanted back in was for this purpose more than those contracts. They meant little to them then, and probably mean little to them now, but they do know that it draws in the "I only run fire calls" type EMT's only so they can run transfers, too.

Meh, these mediocre fire departments deserve an underhanded, and shrewd business driven machine on wheels. It remains most unfortunate for the general public in these areas, but I guess when you're thought to believe that these guys are "gods", and "heroes" ya' don't know what ya' don't know.

It looks like you got out just in time:).
 
I don't understand the draw of 100% 911 in LA County. I mean I can see the excitement for the brand new EMT, but once you start to understand the game it gets old. There were days when I was so fed up with LACoFD and the BS 911 calls that I prayed for an IFT only day. I'd take a long out of the area IFT over an ETOH urban outdoorsman any day. Granted running IFTs all day everyday gets boring after a while, I like the mixture. The only thing that really ticks me off though is giving IFTs to a 24 hour shift at 3am. That just plain sucks....but that's the industry.
 
Chris07 said:
I don't understand the draw of 100% 911 in LA County. I mean I can see the excitement for the brand new EMT, but once you start to understand the game it gets old. There were days when I was so fed up with LACoFD and the BS 911 calls that I prayed for an IFT only day. I'd take a long out of the area IFT over an ETOH urban outdoorsman any day. Granted running IFTs all day everyday gets boring after a while, I like the mixture. The only thing that really ticks me off though is giving IFTs to a 24 hour shift at 3am. That just plain sucks....but that's the industry.
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911 is fun until you realize LACoFD paramedics are just advanced EMTs with a blue P-card in their wallet who ship Chest pains, ALOC, and DKAs BLS so they can go back to their station.

I once took a chest pain BLS, paramedic came to the back of the ambulance and said, "We're gonna go with the chief complaint of left arm pain so we don't have to come with you guys, Okay?"
 
TheComebacKid said:
911 is fun until you realize LACoFD paramedics are just advanced EMTs with a blue P-card in their wallet who ship Chest pains, ALOC, and DKAs BLS so they can go back to their station.

I once took a chest pain BLS, paramedic came to the back of the ambulance and said, "We're gonna go with the chief complaint of left arm pain so we don't have to come with you guys, Okay?"
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I took a sudden onset, nonprovoked chest pain radiating to the left arm (with cardiac history) BLS and the medic told me to go with neck pain. *upside down smiley face emoji*
That same squad has shipped multiple unresponsive patients BLS with me before. *lots of upside down smiley faces*
The list goes on and on with LACoFD...
 
Because you're not picking up a sick person from the little band aid station and taking them to a level 1 50 miles away because they're too sick for the doc to manage.....the healthiest most stable "you really called 911 at 3am for 2 week old constipation?" patient is about the sickest patient you'll see doing BLS IFTs
BLS IFT in LA is either Dialysis Derby, "Miss Jenkins was in our hospital for pneumonia, but she's all better now so you're taking her back to the SNF across the street" (No joke, there's one hospital that routinely discharges to a SNF whose parking lot is connected to the hospitals parking lot, literally <.1mile away, and back when I was doing IFTs you could get 3 or 4 of those discharges in a row)
Or "Mr Jones is here at Local Hospital but he has Kaiser insurance so they want us to transfer him to their facility now"
Etc etc......anyone who is actually sick gets a Paramedic or Critical Care Nurse, the only EMT skill you're using is lifting and moving the patient
 
Jim37F said:
Because you're not picking up a sick person from the little band aid station and taking them to a level 2 50 miles away because they're too sick for the doc to manage...
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This Jimbo, is literally the definition of a large portion of the IFT's we do from CAH's in our county down to our city; and they're quite often very sick. And when those band aid stations tap out, they go up north or down south.
Jim37F said:
the healthiest most stable "you really called 911 at 3am for 2 week old constipation?" patient is about the sickest patient you'll see doing BLS IFTs
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I think we can all attest to having to run these calls with the exception of a few very well-tiered systems. I know plenty of our paramedics still do.
Jim37F said:
Or "Mr Jones is here at Local Hospital but he has Kaiser insurance so they want us to transfer him to their facility now"
Etc etc......anyone who is actually sick gets a Paramedic or Critical Care Nurse, the only EMT skill you're using is lifting and moving the patient
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Kaiser is Kaiser is Kaiser as is there "hub"-aka- Lucifer. You oughta see some of the stuff they write off as "CCT", but hey, it's a guaranteed pay, so why not?

We all know it ain't true (the bolded), I just think it's silly that these companies become so "coveted" for their 911 contracts only to get treated like dirt by these fire jerks. That said, they're about as legitimate as one will ever get in LA County.

I'm not picking on ya', big Jim. Lol, if anything I'd venture to guess you could give one, let alone two flocks sippin' mai thais on the beaches of Hawaii...haha.
 
I really enjoy the transfers from the CAH to the big hospital 20 minutes away. Especially when the patient was on the floor unit for 3 or 4 days. Gave the hospital ample time to make things worse and the run interesting for me.

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Jim37F said:
...but she's all better now so you're taking her back to the SNF across the street" (No joke, there's one hospital that routinely discharges to a SNF whose parking lot is connected to the hospitals parking lot, literally <.1mile away,...
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Are we talking about La Palma Hospital? Or are there others? Those were some great calls. "175 transporting and you can show us destination 0.1". We sometimes considered walking but figured the gurney would tip over, kill our patient, and we'd have days worth of IRs to write.

I also liked transporting from St. Francis to the SNF across the street. You arrive on scene. Go up on the floor. Stare at destination from the window while the patient finishes dinner. Get hassled by dispatch for being on scene so long for such a quick call. Stare at destination from the window some more.
 
Mufasa556 said:
Are we talking about La Palma Hospital? Or are there others? Those were some great calls. "175 transporting and you can show us destination 0.1". We sometimes considered walking but figured the gurney would tip over, kill our patient, and we'd have days worth of IRs to write.

I also liked transporting from St. Francis to the SNF across the street. You arrive on scene. Go up on the floor. Stare at destination from the window while the patient finishes dinner. Get hassled by dispatch for being on scene so long for such a quick call. Stare at destination from the window some more.
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Whittier PIH actually lol.....picked up out of that SNF going to Francis before though lol One time for an earache......then a stabbing in district came in and the Quint told the guy the SNF staff would take care of him and left
 
@Mufasa556, @Jim37F lol you all are giving me some serious flashbacks. Jim, I didn't know PIH was in McCormick's first-in district.

Either way, both areas are vividly remarkable. I believe the one across SFM was a "Country Villa" SNF when I last saw it.

As far as La Palma, or LPI, as our run tickets used to abbreviate it- they had thee best $5.00 lunch tickets back then. Good times, y'all.
 
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Sigh. It took me a year and a half to appreciate how terrible LA county really is. 1 year of ******** IFT, 5 months of county’s bull. Get outside the county if you can OP, it’s worth it.
 
911 call for a 'runny, congested nose'. Fire decides ti send them to ER and when I rise eyebrows, the cap'n responds 'are you gonna be the one to tell the pt she can't go to the hospital ?'

A 911 call for non provoked, non radiating chest pain. A 44 y.o., attractive female with no cardiac hx who had a panic attack, so fire decide to load her onto the ambulance because they need to 'expose her chest to take a picture of her heart'. 4 (four) fyremangs are cramming in and nearly fighting ea other for the leads. Then they send her BLS because, well, she's 100% stable with normal sinus rhythm & absolutely normal vitals.

The list goes on.


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I personally enjoyed IFT. I was never one to kid myself about the nature of the beast. Truth is we all have to pay our dues one way or another. Don't get me wrong I enjoy flashy lights and all but the truth is it increases our chances of getting hit or crashing. 911 is good as far acclimating ones self to others worst moments. But at least in LA Co IFT was where you would be first in scene and have discretion over which treatment or route to proceed. I'm personally tainted with FD EMS. When ever you get a squad and engine crew in your house trying they're damnest to get you to ama just because you called at shift change and they went as far as to say you had clear bilateral lung sounds so they could go back to station really pisses me off. Turns out one of my lungs was filled with fluid when I went to ED to get second opinion. Yeah LA Co "EMS" is over rated. Fires they deserve all the credit but EMS is just out o their expertise.
 
On another not I always got a kick out of transporting a psych Pt from St Francis ED to around the building to the psych unit after hours.
 
AMR ruined Doctors. Closed down a company in EMS history. Now has McCormick. I bet the big man at Care is very happy with how this is all playing out. His goal is to shut every company down c:

From what he told me.... lol
 
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